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I doubt you are going to get anything of quality on HSN, but I am a buy once, cry once type of guy. Go to home-barista.com if you want to know more about getting a quality set-up for coffee. You don't have to spend a fortune, but if you get into espresso be prepared to spend some coin unless you get deals on craigslist or ebay. Sweetmarias.com is my favorite place to shop for coffee, but there are other good vendors.

Nothing new to add, except that: along with roasting some damn fine espresso and decaf espresso (I ordered 5 lbs. of each again), Jeff at Red Bird is one of the friendliest guys with whom you could ever do business. I have to order by phone because the site isn't set up to accept non-US Paypal payments. Damn fine coffee!

IMHO the Baratza Virtuoso Preciso is the best grinder for home use at any price. The only thing that more expensive commercial grinders do better is high volume, and they are actually much worse at low volume home use. The preciso leaves only about 0.2 grams of coffee in its chute after grinding, other home grinders, even the more expensive Vario by the same company leave over a gram, and commercial grinders like Mazzer leave up to 7 or 8 grams. That means when you grind for a cup you either have to first grind and throw away a few grams of coffee or have a significant percentage of stale grounds in your brew. It is also extremely versatile, I have never seen another grinder that is exceptional at espresso, and can also do a coarse grind for french press with almost no fines. The vario grinds very well for espresso too, but is no where near as good on the coarse end or even in the middle for drip or pour over. For me, espresso aside, the ultimate home coffee setup is a Preciso and a Hario V60 dripper. People think I'm nuts for telling them to buy a $300 grinder and a $15 coffee maker, but the results are infinitely better than using a $15 grinder and a $300 coffee maker. As far as home roasting goes, it seems like a fascinating and rewarding hobby, but I would rather buy beans from a great local roaster that has spent his whole life perfecting the art of roasting, and travels around the world hand picking beans from individual farmers. I will never be able to produce roasts of that quality at home, not even close. Oh, I do not work for a coffee equipment maker or store, this is all based on personal experience and years of research and tasting.

This analogy just came to me, using a blade grinder is the coffee grinding equivalent of using an electric knife sharpener on the back of a can opener. If you aren't willing or able to spend money on a good burr grinder get a Hario Skerton or mini mill hand grinder. Or do a 3mil dice on your beans with a good usuba.

joetbn, what other burr grinders have you personally compared the Baratza Virtuoso Preciso to? At $700 the Mazzer isn't a consideration for a drip home brew. At around $170 there's the Kitchenaide ProLine and the basic Capresso burr grinders will get a great cup of coffee.

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough." —Mark Twain

Not sure that the Preciso is the best at any price? Lots of others have talked about the advantages of larger conical burrs and commercial grinders - more clarity in flavours, greater forgiveness factor in grind adjustment, fluffier grinds leading to less channelling/distribution issues, slower rpm grinding due to larger motor (the Preciso can heat up the grinds significantly when grinding large filter doses), etc. There are quite a few home-friendly grinders out there which imo are better than the Preciso - Versalab, Malk K30, or even the Elecktra Nino which retains 4 grams but essentially rivals the mighty Mazzer Robur. Hand grinder users should rejoice at the new HG One grinders which are available to pre-order. That being said I'm sure the Preciso is awesome for all the reasons you mentioned above and easily a contender for best home grinder under $1k Haha would love to see a video of someone attempting to brew coffee with the 3mm dice of beans!

It's pretty easy to get trhe grinds out of a Mazzer chute if you don't leave the 'protector' in place. You can use the end of a chopstick, or even a pastry brush. But I actually get most of it out by dropping the tamper in the throat of the hopper opening on top (I do not have the hopper in place). All it take is about a half inch drop. The air pressure pushes out the bulk of the grinds. And that works even with the protector left in place.

There are always Mazzers for sale on eBay, and sometime on Craigslist. You should be able to score a good used one in the $350 range.